Switch-operating device.



No. 724,358. PETENTED MAE.31,190a-. J. M. WILBUE.

SWITCH OPERATING DEVICE.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 12. 1902.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.JOI-IN M. WILBUR, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF TVO- TI-IIRDS TO CHARLES MINIUM AND FRED B. WILBUR, OF COLORADO CITY,

COLORADO. l

SWITCH--oeERATING''olavloe SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,358, dated March 31, 1903.

Application filed May l2, 1902. Serial No. 106,899. (No model.) l

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, JOHN M.' WILBUR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Colorado Springs, in the county of ElY Paso and State of Colorado, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Switch-Operating Devices, of which the following is a specication.

My invention is an improvement in devices ro for operating switches from a moving car,

which may be a street-car, coal-car, mineralcar, or other vehicle running on the rails; and the invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my invention as in use. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof; and Fig. 3 is a detail plan View of a switch, parts'of my improved zo apparatus being applied.

The car A, with its truck B and wheels C, and the rail D, guard-rail E, and switch-point F may be of any approved form. The switch has its point F arranged to open to the siding or to close the main rail, as desired, the switch being shown closed in full lines and open in dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The switch-operating devices may preferably be supported on the trucks, it being understood 3o that in practice I shall employ said devices at both ends of the car, so they can be operated when the car is goingin either direction. Asfshown, my invention includes a wheel l, preferably edged, as shown in Fig. 3, and supported on an axle 3 in a fork at the lower end of an upright shaft 2, which shaft is held at its upper end in a case 7, so it can turn and can raise and lower, as desired. It is preferred to extend the said case down, as indicated in dotted lines, as near to the bottom of the shaft 2 as possible, permitting the shaft to be raised when not in use. The case 7 also affords a bearing for the short arm of the cross-lever, presently described, by which the shaft 2 is raised and lowered and turned by the means presently described. Near its upper end the shaft 2 is provided vwith a transverse opening G, through which projects the cross-lever 4, the opening Gbeing elon- 5o gated vertically to permit any lateral movement of the shaft 2 from vibration or rocking of the car or from other cause. At its short end 4a the cross-lever 4 operates when adj usted to either dotted-line position shown in Fig. 2 below the guides 7, arranged near the 55 upper end of the shaft 2, the said guide being so curved as to receive the short arm of the lever 4 and hold the switch-operating Wheel 1 vfirmly down in position to operate the switch-point and prevent the said wheel from jumping out of switching connection should it strike against the side of the rail or anything else which should have a tendency to raise it. ThisV is an important feature of my invention-that isV to say, the provision of'means whereby the sWitch-operatingwheel when adjusted to operating position will be held from accidental displacement until it has accomplished the adjustment of the switchpoint desired. The long arm of the lever 4 7o operates Within or in engagement with aguide V6, which is curved longitndinallyorfrom front to rear to correspond with the arc described "by the long armof the lever 4 and also vertically to rock the said lever 4 up and down in 75 raising andlowering the shaft 2. The lever 4 bears beneath the guide 6 and may preferably be provided with an antifriction-roller 4", and the lever 4 fulcrums on the curved bearing 5, which may preferably be a jour- 8o naled Wheel, as shown, to relievefriction, the

curvature of the bearing permitting the rocking of the lever 4 as it travels between the dotted-line positions indicated in Fig. 2;

In the operation of the described construction it will be noticed that when the cross-lever 4 is in the yfull-line position shown in Fig.

2 it will have operated to raise the shaft 2 and the switch-setting wheel l to the full-line position shown in Fig. l, wherein it will not 9o operate upon or in contact with the switchpoint 'o r rails. A If now the car should approach the switch from the left-hand end of Fig. 3, the cross-lever should be adjusted to the dotted-line position H in Fig. 2, which would by the one movement rock the shaft 2 to set the wheel l at the angle shown in full lines, Fig. 3, and lower the shaft 2 to bring the said wheel in the position to operate between the rail D and the guard-rail E, wherein it will engage the free extremity of the switchpoint F and throw the said switch-point to IOO the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3. The reverse movement of the cross-lever 4 or the adjustment thereof to the dotted-line position I shown in Fig. 2 will lower the shaft 2 and turn it to bring the Wheel 1 to the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 3, in which it would operate upon the switch-point to adjust the same from the dotted-line position indicated in Fig. 3 to the full-line position shown in the same figure.

For operating the cross-lever I provide an upright shaft IO, having a crank-arm 8, connected by a pitman 9 with the cross-lever, the shaft 10 being also provided with a handlelever 12, which may be of any suitable form and so connected with the shaft 10 that it may be extended horizontally therefrom or may be adjusted to the upright position when the switch-wheel 1 is out of operating position, and a notched rack 13 may be arranged for engagement by the handle-lever to secure the same and the shaft 10 in any desired adjustment. In the adjustment of the cross-lever 4 from end to end of the curved guide 6 it will be noticed it rides upon the curved bearing 5, so the end of the lever in connection with the upright shaft 2 will be caused to rise and fall, and thus raise and lower the said shaft 2 and the wheel carried thereby.

The switch-operatin g device may be carried by a base-plate J, suitably formed for connection with the truck, as shown in Fig. l. In operation the upward and downward motions of the car will not affect the switch-operating devices, as they are attached to the truck and will not be adected by the movements of the car-body.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The means herein described for operating switch-points, the same consisting of the upright shaft, the vertically-edgewise Wheel supported at the lower endof said shaft in position to engage a switch-point, said upright shaft having a transverse opening near its upper end, the cross shaft projecting through said opening and beyond the shaft, guide devices for engagement with the eX- tended end of the shaft, a curved fulcrum or bearing for the cross-lever, and a vertically and longitudinally curved guide for the end of the leveropposite that engaged by the upright shaft, and means for operating the cross-lever, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the upright shaft provided at its lower end with means foroperating the switch, of the vertically-rocking cross-lever connected atone end with the shaft, and swinging laterally at its other end to turn the shaft, the shaft forming the center ou which the lever swings laterally and means operating upon the said lever by which to rock the cross-bar vertically whereby to raise and lower the shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination in a switch-operating mechanism with the upright shaft and the wheel thereon for engagement with a switchpoint, of a cross-lever connected with said shaft, and means whereby the said lever may be swunglaterally to turn the shaft and rocked vertically to move the shaft endwise, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the shaft carrying the switch-operating wheel, of a lever connected with said shaft and projecting at both ends beyond the same, guide devices engaging one en'd of the lever for operating the same, and guide devices for engaging the other end of the lever, whereby to hold the shaft from upward movement when adjusted to set the switch-operating wheel into operative position, substantially as set forth.

` 5. The combination with the shaft carrying the switch-operating wheel, of the cross-lever connected with said shaft, a curved guide for the end of the lever opposite that connected with the shaft, and a curved bearing forming a fulcrum for the said cross-lever, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the shaft carrying the switch-operating wheel, of the cross-lever connected with said shaft, a curved guide engaged by the said lever, and a curved bearin g between the shaft and the curved guide and forming a fulcrum for the cross-lever, substantially as set forth.

7. In a switch-operating mechanism, the combination with the upright shaft, and the switch-operating wheel thereon, of the guide 6 curved longitudinally and vertically, the curved bearing between the guide 6 and the upright shaft, the cross-lever engaged at one end with the guide 6 and fulcruming upon the curved bearing, and guides 7 for engagement with the end of the cross-lever opposite that engaged with the curved guide 6, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of the shaft, provided at its lower end with means for operating the switch, a lever connected with said shaft and projecting at both ends beyond the same, operating devices engaging one end of the le- `ver, and devices for engaging the other end of the lever, whereby to hold the shaft against upward movement when the shaft is adjusted into position to operate the switch, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination in a switch-operating mechanism, of the cross-lever, a curved guide engaged by one end of said lever, the shaft carried by theA other end of the lever and provided with meaus for operating the switch, and a curved fulcrum-bearing for the crosslever between the shaft and the curved guide, substantially as set forth.

JOHN M. VILBUR.

\Vitnesses:

MICHAEL L. MAGUrRE, CHARLES MINIUM.

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